Joint Strike Fighter Phase 1

When significant budget cuts were affecting the construction of infrastructure projects, USACE partnered with W.E. O’Neil to undertake this complex and challenging design-build project. It consists of design-build modifications to existing facilities and new design-build buildings for flight testing of the latest, state-of-the-art aircraft, the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.

• The Ridley Mission Control building, an existing facility with high access and security standards, received three new design-build secure control rooms.
• Three existing hangars in buildings 1820 and 1810, initially constructed in the 1950s and 1960s, were redesigned and extensively re-worked. Improvements include secure office spaces, secure and non-secure conference rooms, raised floor computer rooms, secure maintenance and test equipment areas, and highly technical equipment yards to support the aircraft.
• Building 1819 is a new design-build facility servicing Armament, Munitions, and Equipment (AME) personnel with offices, secure shop areas, and overhead cranes.
• Building 1807 was designed and retrofitted as an entirely secure facility with secure conference rooms.
• An existing facility, building 1808, was designed and retrofitted as a mix of secure and non-secure spaces and conference rooms.
• Building 1806 was a new design-build single-story, non-secure office building.
• Renovation of existing buildings and hangars, and construction of new munitions facility to support the integration and testing of the joint strike fighter aircraft.

The Joint Strike Fighter project was an important component of the armed forces’ plans to protect our national security. Under this overall umbrella, the Joint Strike Fighter Test Facilities project had to design-build the facilities within the constraints of a tight budget and had to meet high levels of security, access control, and quality.